Rose
by Vampyric Ninja
Summary: It can be summed up in twenty six words why, against all reason, Vincent and Yuffie are in love with each other. Yuffentine.


_**Disclaimer: In case you thought otherwise, Final Fantasy VII and all of its characters belong to Square Enix.**_

* * *

_The letters in the alphabet make up words…_

_---------------------------_

**A - Animal**

Vincent remembered the first time a demon had broken its bonds; the demon was Galian Beast.

It was nothing like he had anticipated. He had expected to be rejected by Avalanche, forever shamed by his cursed demons.

Instead, he was tackled to the ground.

"Awww….Look at the cute little **animal**! Vinnie, is Gali a dog?" Vincent felt two slender arms wrap themselves around his neck, hugging him. "He is so cuuute! Can he do tricks? Would he mind it if I pet him?"

Well, maybe his demons weren't so bad. Vince-_Galian Beast_ started purring.

_---------------------------_

**B – Battle**

Yuffie sighed as she sat next to the fire, warming herself. Sometimes, Yuffie felt a _teensy weensy_ bit guilty for deceiving Avalanche. They were currently the only friends she had ever had, and she was going to steal their materia. For the good of Wutai, of course…

But she still felt guilty. Even though, dangit, she hadn't done anything yet! Yuffie was, so far, only _planning_ to steal their materia!

"Are you okay?" Vincent's deep voice made Yuffie jump. She didn't know how he could sneak up on her when she was trained from birth to be a stealthy ninja.

Yuffie looked at him, nodded, and went back to staring at the fire. Vincent was slightly surprised at her silence, but brushed it aside. He bent down and dropped a warm, folded blanket on her lap.

"…I thought you might be cold…" He said, and then quickly hurried away.

Yuffie covered herself with the blanket, touched by his concern. Because this was her real **battle**; it wasn't the frequent monster attacks or the annoying Turk ambushes, even though those were pretty dang tough.

The real battle was trying to keep up the deceive-ment, of trying to convince herself that what she was going to do was worth it, that she couldn't care less if she betrayed Vincent.

_---------------------------_

**C – Cake**

Argh. Such a mess! Well, Yuffie hoped Tifa wouldn't mind the messy kitchen. It's not like cleaning up actually affected her anyways. Tifa could always force Cloud or some other charmed individual to do it.

Eeep! The batter was splashing, yes, _splashing_, everywhere! After an intense duel with the mixture, she managed to pour it into the batter-holding pan and stuff it in the oven.

Why was she even doing this anyway? This kind of trouble wouldn't be worth all of Avalanche's mastered materia! In fact, Yuffie had half a mind to yank the pan out and throw it back at the supermarket from whence it came.

"Happy birthday to you!"

"Happy birthday to you!"

"Happy birthday dear Vince-ent!"

"Happy birthday to you!"

But it was all worth it in the end, to see the look on his face when he received the **cake**.

And Yuffie was repaid tenfold when Vincent tasted a slice and whispered, "Thank you, Yuffie…It is delicious."

_---------------------------_

**D - Dagger**

Now, normally, Vincent wasn't a very violent man. Despite being a former Turk, he preferred peaceful methods to violent ones.

There are just some people, however, that deserve to be poisoned. Or stabbed by a **dagger.** Or even better, shot twenty times with a gun.

One of those people was currently holding a beer and grinning at Yuffie.

Neither of them noticed him. They wouldn't, because Vincent had taken every precaution to _not_ be noticed. He didn't like attracting attention from the crowds of people at Seventh Heaven.

Still, Vincent thought that he should have just sat next to Yuffie so that Reno could not. He fully did not appreciate the redhead's flirting with her. Only brotherly protection, understand.

But when Reno scooted closer to her and wrapped his arm around her shoulders, Vincent entirely forgot his dislike of attracting attention. He stalked to where they were sitting…and threw Reno out of the bar.

_---------------------------_

**E – Elevator**

Yuffie couldn't believe it! Tifa had just pushed her into an **elevator**. No, not the normal, smoothly-running elevators. The broken elevator that never worked and that took three hours for someone to open.

May Shinra burn to the ground! Couldn't they fix their stupid elevators? Yuffie fumed and started punching the wall.

"…Yuffie…is that you?" Yuffie turned towards the source. Her eyes still hadn't adjusted to the dark, but she could tell from the voice that it was Vincent.

And that surprised Yuffie, because she didn't put Vincent as the type to loiter around in a broken elevator. "Vinnie? What are you doing here?"

"…Cloud pushed me in." That cracked Yuffie up.

"Hahahahaha! Seriously? That's hilarious!"

"…I suppose so." Vincent seemed like he was sulking. Haha!

"Any idea why Mr. No-fun Cloud would do something like that?"

"I do not know. He was acting strange, though."

"Really? How?"

"He kept mentioning how it was all Tifa's plan…and that he absolutely nothing to do with it."

Wait…What?

…And then something in Yuffie's brain clicked.

"TIFA LOCKHART, I'M GONNA STRANGLE YOU!!!"

_---------------------------_

**F – Foster**

"Right, so you go throw this water balloon at Cloud, okay?"

"Are…are you sure he wouldn't mind?" Denzel asked, seeming slightly hesitant to believe that throwing a water balloon at Cloud would be beneficial to his health.

Yuffie sighed. These little kids were becoming more annoying by the second. What happened to the good old days when a little boy would do anything to cause terror? But, Yuffie supposed, growing up around Cloud would dull anyone's ability for fun. Which is why it was a good thing that Denzel had Yuffie Kisaragi.

"Of course not! He would love to have such a thing thrown at him. In fact, if I didn't think that you were worthy enough for this task, I would do it myself." Not a total lie.

"Uh, okay. I guess I'll go do it now." And with that, Denzel departed.

Yuffie smirked. Now Cloud would get soaked, Denzel would get in trouble (but Tifa would protect him), and Yuffie would be scott-free.

"You know," came a monotonous voice that made Yuffie jump, "You really shouldn't **foster** these outrageous ideas in those poor, innocent children."

Yuffie cursed. Vincent had the worst timing.

_---------------------------_

**G – Ghost**

It wasn't working.

She had tried everything. She had told her funniest jokes, did her most outrageous tricks, and even tried blackmailing him.

Nothing worked! Absolutely nothing! Yuffie mumbled. She was just going to have to give up and admit to Cid that, yes, nothing in the world could make that man smile.

As soon as she left, Vincent Valentine's lips curved upward in the **ghost** of a smile.

_---------------------------_

**H – Hurry**

There was no doubt about it. Yuffie was fast, probably the fastest member in Avalanche. If you asked her how she got to be so fast, she would hold her head up and proudly proclaim that she was a ninja, and as such was born to be swift.

Yuffie was smart too; smarter than most people realized. She had been traveling by herself since the age of twelve, thieving merchants dry. Yuffie could come up with the most devious plans for the unaware. Reeve had appointed her as the head of WRO's intelligence.

As smart as she was, as fast as she was, she was still completely clueless. Vincent hoped that she would just **hurry** up and realize that he was fully and completely in love with her.

_---------------------------_

**I – Irresistable**

There was something about him that made him interesting. Yuffie couldn't put her finger on it, because he really shouldn't be all that interesting.

He hardly talked. When he did, he was depressing and full of angst. He hardly did anything other than mope around, too. When he wasn't moping, he was saving the world or something like that. Boring. Yuffie's saved the world plenty of times, and the thrill of it wears off.

But still, even though he's so lacklusterly boring, Yuffie was drawn to him like a moth to fire – although that really wasn't a good analogy, because fire is dangerous but interesting and Vincent never seemed all that dangerous (to her, anyways. Different story for the enemy), and he is definitely not interesting.

Yuffie guessed that, like fire, he was simply **irresistible**.

_---------------------------_

**J – Jam**

"This is impossible." Yuffie groaned, rolling over on a bed in the airship. "Dangit, I knew I should have brought more tranquilizers!"

Vincent looked over her, worried about her condition, but still amused. "Why didn't you?"

"Because, since there's all that space in the stupid sky, I didn't realize that it was possible for airships to be stuck in a FREAKIN' TRAFFIC **JAM**!"

_---------------------------_

**K – Kill**

Vincent moodily kicked a barrel located near the building.

This hadn't been a good day, thought Vincent. He had run out of bullets, and as such almost got killed by DeepGround. Then, he had to go fighting hand to hand while searching for some bullets. To top it off, he had gotten almost beat up by Rosso the Crimson, having been saved just in time by Yuffie Kisaragi. And now, he had just found out that the materia keeping Chaos under control was missing.

Not a good day.

But when Yuffie had been with him and their faces had been oh so close and they were leaning forward and about to touch, Vincent could grudgingly admit that his day had gotten better in a flash.

It would have been perfect if Cid hadn't barged in with his cigarettes and, upon seeing them both, yelled out "#, the vampire's about to kiss the ninja brat! Well, it's about time (you two are more in denial than I was with Shera), but get a room!"

Vincent resolved to give him a nice, slow, painful death, that is, if Yuffie didn't **kill** Cid first.

_---------------------------_

**L – Laugh**

"How dare you shove me into that elevator!?!"

"It was Tifa's idea." The swordsman is quick to shove the blame, knowing that he'll regret it later, but he'll take later regret to instant death. Smart move.

"That's who I'm talking to!" The ninja glaringly confronts the martial artist, who is washing the dishes, pretending to be unamused. "Yuffie, that happened months ago. Are you still made about it?"

"YES I AM! You purposely just went and _pushed_-"

"But don't you like him?"

"W-What?"

Cleverly using the abrupt subject change to her advantage, the martial artist continues. "You know you like him."

"D-don't make me **laugh**. Of c-course I don't!"

"…You don't what?"

Dramatic entry by the gunslinger! How will this affect the ninja's attack methods?

"Hello, Vincent."

"ARGH! VINCENT! Didn't I tell you that you had the worst timing!?! Quit-" Shove. "-Interrupting-" Shove. "-People's-" Shove. "-Conversations!"

_---------------------------_

**M – Mountain**

Wutai was a beautiful island, covered with forests and lakes amongst the **mountain** ranges. It was, anyways, until the downfall of Wutai, when Sephiroth ravaged the island and Godo turned it into a tourist trap.

Despite the proven weaknesses of sticking to old-fashioned traditions and the hypocrisy of a tourist industry abiding by the ancient laws, Godo refused to change any of the Wutaian laws and adamantly said that he would arrange Yuffie's marriage.

This fueled her anger towards her father, and helped her in her decision to run away at the age of twelve to collect materia for Wutai. Yuffie always thought she would come back soon, to the land she loved, and submit to Godo's demands.

But now, eight years later, she sits at a mountain peak in Wutai, after sneaking in. No one knows she is there, and she goes through every precaution to make sure that no one will.

As much as she loves Wutai, she does not want to marry someone she does not know because, though she denies it with all her heart, she is in love with that red cloaked gunslinger.

_---------------------------_

**N – Nanny**

Vincent was walking through the streets of Midgar when he met Yuffie, who was shepherding Marlene and Denzel to walk in a straight line. Yuffie stopped and waved a greeting to him. Marlene and Denzel did the same.

"Hello, Vincent! The others are busy, so we're staying with Yuffie!"

"Yeah, she's the coolest **nanny** ever!"

"For the last time, I'm not your nanny! I'm your _babysitter_!"

As Yuffie and the children argued about the definition of a nanny, Vincent inwardly smiled and wondered if she wanted her own children.

_---------------------------_

**O – Offer**

"How about…twenty gil?" Yuffie had put on her best pouting face.

But, regrettably, Vincent was completely unfazed. "…Sorry, no."

"One hundred gil?"

"No thank you."

"_Five hundred_ gil?"

"No."

"Okay, here's the best **offer **yet; how about a thousand gil, I'll stop bothering you…and I'll even throw in a hug!"

"...Fine…"

"Yay! Thank you, Vinnie!" Collecting her newly bought materia, she gave Vincent a brief hug and dashed away.

To be honest, he would have given her the materia just for the hug, but don't tell her that.

_---------------------------_

**P – Paint**

Yesterday, Yuffie had redecorated his mansion. It was surprising, to say the least. Vincent didn't even know that Yuffie was _in_ his mansion, painting.

This is how he found out:

He had come to his mansion.

He had opened a door.

He had walked through the hallway.

He had blinked and walked back.

One of his rooms seemed…different.

It was splattered in green and yellow **paint**. Everywhere. On the wall, on floor, on the tables, on the chairs.

He had stood in silence for some time, before reaching for his little-used cell phone. He had dialed the first number on his cell.

She had answered. "Ohmigosh! Vinnie, are you all right? Are you alive? Is something the matter?"

"…Nothing's the matter."

"Oh. Then why are you calling?"

Vincent paused. How to phrase it? "By any chance, did you…break into my house and…paint one of my rooms?"

"Me? Of course not!"

Perplexed, Vincent was about to hang up when she spoke again.

"Besides, your room was boring and needed some new decorations anyway. Oh, and you really should fix that lock."

Vincent paused while he smiled (unfortunately, no one was there to see it). He'd never admit that the room she'd painted had become his favorite.

_---------------------------_

**Q – Question**

"Why do you bother?"

"Hm? What's that, Vinnie?" Yuffie looked up to face Vincent, whose face was, like always, in an unemotional mask.

He repeated his **question**. "Why…Why do you bother talking to me? I am not a pleasant companion (Vincent could admit that freely). Your time could…be better spent…with someone else (that took a little more for him to admit)."

Yuffie smiled. "You ask too many questions, Vincent. I talk to you because I _like_ you!" With that statement, Yuffie jumped up to him and hugged him.

Vincent blushed, for the first time in ages.

_---------------------------_

**R – Red**

Yuffie was blushing profoundly. Vincent was blushing slightly.

Take a moment to reflect on what's wrong with this picture. It's the fact that neither blushes. At all.

She is a top-of-the-line thief. She can lie without a blink of an eye. And always without blushing.

So when her face turns **red**, and by red I mean the color of tomatoes, or apples, or Vincent's eyes (but of course Yuffie didn't know what the heck his eyes looked like, because of course she never looked), something is wrong.

Vincent does not blush either, minus that one incident with Yuffie. He was a Turk. He was trained to hide his feelings, and he was good at it. When his cheeks give the slightest hint of a blush, it should be self explanatory that something is wrong.

What happened?

They had just been walking together, with not a care in the world, when someone had remarked, "You two make such a cute couple!"

_---------------------------_

**S – Shopping**

Vincent Valentine was doing the unspeakable. He was **shopping.** He did not want to be here, and was trying his best to stick to his task and not make a hasty retreat, but it was tough.

It wasn't that he was bothered by all the stares he was getting as he marched through the streets in his red cloak and golden claw, though it did unnerve him. It was really the question of what to buy for her, because what do you buy for the approaching birthday of a Princess Ninja Thief who could probably get, or steal, all she wanted in a flash?

Yuffie had made Vincent feel special when it was his birthday, and he wanted to repay her. He wanted to make her feel smile and feel special, and that was why he was having such a hard time with this ridiculous activity.

_---------------------------_

**T – Telescope**

There was no denying that Yuffie and Vincent were very different. For example, if given a **telescope **by a stranger…

Vincent would accept it out of politeness (a telescope…? …Thank you very much…) and would, in private (after checking for bombs and the like), possibly use it to see the stars and the planets, perhaps naming a few constellations. After using it, Vincent would keep it around, storing it somewhere in his colossal mansion.

Whereas Yuffie would accept it indifferently (a telescope? Well, I could get a ten times better one, but thanks for the thought…) and use it to spy on an unsuspecting neighbor. After finding some potential blackmail material, she would chuck it at some random innocent bystander, and if it was a good day, she'd snatch their materia and money as well.

Very different, but opposites attract.

_---------------------------_

**U – Universe**

Vincent Valentine had plenty of swooning fangirls, rivaling the number Cloud had. Most didn't dare approach him, but that didn't change the fact that there were plenty of girls who would do anything to be with the tall, dark, and handsome war hero-with-dark-past.

Likewise, Yuffie Kisaragi had many fanboys. She had a cool, charming personality, was athletic, and loved to fight. It didn't hurt that she was cute and slender and Wutaian (Wutaians were exotic and dangerous and her fans loved risk).

However, whenever one of their adoring fans approached, they were told, either coldly or happily respectively, that there was only one person in the entire **universe** that they wanted to be with.

_---------------------------_

**V- Vase**

Yuffie barged through the main door of the mansion with Vincent at her heels, trying to calm her down. "All right, we are going to redecorate this place!"

Successfully catching up to Yuffie, he paused to take a deep breath, and then to ask a much-used question. "…Why?"

"Because it's boring, Vinnie. I thought that painting your room would get you into a redecorating mood, but apparently not!" Yuffie ran to a room. "We can start with this here **vase**!"

Vincent peeked in the room at the object in question. He had to admit, it was a pretty ugly vase. "…Should we throw it out?"

"Don't be so wasteful!" Yuffie ran outside while Vincent was left stranded in the room. After a few minutes, she came back and arranged some flowers inside the vase. "See? Pretty, right?"

Vincent nodded, though he wasn't thinking about the vase.

_---------------------------_

**W – Wind**

Aero was a rare spell. Consequently, Avalanche was unable to find a materia able to cast it, though several of their enemies were able to. Vincent knew of its rarity, and it was a while before he was able to get a hold of one. A lot of trouble and a lot of cash. Worth it in the end, he hoped.

He entered Seventh Heaven like the others, but it wasn't until Yuffie was outside, happily testing the new shruiken she got from Nanaki, that he slipped the materia in her hand and whispered, "Happy birthday, Yuffie."

Yuffie had looked at the materia he had given her, and had her face had brightened even more. "Wow! Aero3? For me? Really, Vincent?"

He simply nodded, content that she liked his present. His fear had been that she already had this materia.

Yuffie summoned a cool gust of **wind** and leaned back. "The breeze feels nice, doen't it?"

Yes, it did…Almost as nice as being there with her.

_---------------------------_

**X – Xylophone**

Yuffie isn't like other girls, to be sure, but sometimes, Vincent is curious as to how she's the Princess of Wutai and yet hardly knows, or cares, about royal duties.

So one day, at another Avalanche get-together, he finds himself asking, "Do you play an instrument?"

She looks shocked, either from his question or the fact that he's talking. But she answers anyways. "Nope!"

That surprises him, though he should have stopped being surprised by her a long time ago. Having a mother from Wutai, he knows something about Wutaian tradition, and ventures another question. "Isn't it tradition for a Wutaian girl to learn how to play an instrument?"

Yuffie thinks for a bit, and then nods. "Oh yeah, I remember now. Old Godo kept on harping about how I had to uphold family tradition, so that I should play an instrument, blah, blah, blah. So I learned how to play one to shut him up."

"…Which instrument can you play?"

Yuffie grins slyly. "I play the **xylophone**!"

_---------------------------_

**Y – Yacht**

"Are you sure we're allowed on here, Yuffie?" His eyes darted to the side as if he expected the police to go charging after them. Yuffie personally thought that he needed to stop thinking about security.

"Psh. Quit being so suspicious. Do you honestly believe that I'd sneak us on somebody else's **yacht**?"

Vincent stared at her.

"Okay, fine, I would! But this is honestly and legitimately _my_ boat!"

"You bought a yacht…with your own money?"

Erm…Well…Let's see…How to explain this so that he would understand…

"You know, technically, Godo's money is part of the Royal Wutaian treasuries, and since I'm a Royal Wutaian, that money is, technically, mine as well." Insert cute little pouting face.

Yuffie could tell that Vincent wanted to argue it out, but she was thankful when he drops the subject.

"Hold on a sec!" Yuffie ran to the piloting box, and started up the boat.

"Don't you get sick on ships?"

"Nah, only when other people are driving." She put it on autopilot, grabbed his hand, and ran towards the deck, dragging him along.

Yuffie pointed to the sunset. "Isn't it pretty, Vinnie?"

"Yes, indeed…"

However, she put the sun out of business when it came to beauty, and Vincent finally decided to tell her as much.

_---------------------------_

**Z – Zorro**

Vincent was staring at Yuffie.

Okay. So he'd been staring at Yuffie a lot. The difference was that_ this_ time, he had a reason.

Instead of her usual outfit, Yuffie was dressed in all black. Her face was covered with a black mask and she was wearing a black cowboy's hat and a long, flowing black cape. Instead of her conformer, she was armed with a rapier and a bullwhip.

"Behold! I am **Zorro**, the magnificent! I shall defend this land against tyrannical evil beings! No one and nothing can stop me! MUAHAHAHA!!!!"

Vincent stared.

"Hey, Vinnie, like my outfit?"

Vincent blinked, and nodded, although he preferred her other outfits, because they were a lot more revealing-

ARGH. No. Stop. Thought. Quickly.

"Yup, I'm defender of the innocents! Nothing can stop me!"

Vincent smirked. "Nothing?"

She nodded sagely. "Nothing."

"I see…"

Vincent tackled her.

_---------------------------_

…_but none can describe my love for you._

* * *

Overly fluffy, n'est-ce pas? Oh well. 

This is a contest entry for the ABC challenge by angelofsweetness, who was so kind to let me enter. Thank you!


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